From the traveltalk.dk family – started in Denmark in 2018
Read in: Dansk (original)
Raffles Hotels is not one building. Raffles is 25.
The difference is the whole point of travelling by name.
When the hotel on Beach Road opened in 1887, there was no chain. There were four Armenian brothers, a white house with high ceilings, and an idea of selling a particular feeling of Asia to people who had travelled a long way to find it. The chain came a hundred years later. Raffles International was founded in 1989 with one purpose: to restore and run the one hotel, which reopened in September 1991. Only after that did the name begin to travel.
Today Raffles is a brand under the French group Accor, which bought Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel together in 2016. Accor puts the portfolio at 25 hotels with 3,905 rooms as of 30 June 2026. Only a handful of them are old. The rest were built within the last twenty years, in pyramids, towers and casino resorts.
Raffles Hotels offers a unique experience that combines luxury and culture, and is travel with style around the world.
This is not an objection. It is the information you need before you book.
One hotel from 1887 and 24 others that have borrowed the name. Where Raffles has roots, where it is new build, and what the butler actually means.
What Raffles hotels actually promise
Lay the 25 hotels side by side, and three things recur.
The first is the butler. Every Raffles has one, and it is not a receptionist with a grander title. The butler is attached to the suite, not the lobby, and it is he or she who unpacks, books tables and knows when you get up. It is the one thing the chain has carried from Singapore to every address, and the one thing that cannot be built.
The second is the format. Raffles builds small and builds suites. Singapore is suites only, with 115. Doha has 132 suites and not a single standard room. Bahrain has 78 villas, Sentosa 62. In Makati, Raffles sits as 32 suites on top of a 280-room Fairmont, and in Doha the two brands share Katara Towers. The pattern is the same: Raffles is the small, expensive floor of a larger building.
The third is that the chain restores where there is something to restore, and builds new where there is not. That gives two kinds of Raffles, and they are not worth the same to someone travelling for the name.
When Raffles is best to visit
Singapore is a year-round destination, but it is not the same all year. It is hot and humid throughout, and the rainy season brings heavy downpours in the late afternoons. The driest period is typically between February and April, and that is what most people choose. July and August are just as hot, but there are more hotel guests from Asia, and prices follow demand.
Dubai has a clear season. October to April is comfortable, with daytime temperatures you can sit outside in. From June to September it is very hot, and most of city life moves indoors or into the evening. If you book The Palm or the Dubai pyramid in summer, the pool and evenings need to be planned around the heat.
The Maldives do not depend on the season in the same way. The dry period from November to April gives the most sun and the least rain. The wet season brings shorter showers and more wind, but the temperature does not drop much. Many travellers choose the wetter months for lower prices, and that can be a good idea if you are not after guaranteed sun.
India is the most seasonal of the four. October to March is the best time for Udaipur and Jaipur, with cool nights and pleasant days. From April, and through the monsoon from July to September, it becomes very hot, and in the monsoon months heavy rain showers can arrive. The hottest period can be hard to endure in the great palaces.
The old houses, where the name has roots
Six of the 25 hotels are housed in buildings older than the brand. These are the ones the history attaches to.
Singapore (1887). The starting point. We have written about it twice: the guide to Raffles Hotel in Singapore covers the bar, the suites and what you get for your money. The story of the two-year closure covers how the house survived its own restoration without becoming a different hotel. Read them in that order.
Phnom Penh (1929) and Siem Reap (1932). The two oldest houses after Singapore, both designed by the Frenchman Ernest Hébrard, both built for the first tourists in French Indochina. Le Royal in Phnom Penh opened with a ball for King Sisowath Monivong. The Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap was built because the bungalows at Angkor could no longer keep up. These are the two places in the chain where the colonial era is not a backdrop, but the building’s own age.
Paris (1928, Raffles since 2010). Le Royal Monceau on Avenue Hoche underwent three years of renovation under Philippe Starck before reopening on 18 October 2010 with Raffles on the facade. It is a Parisian mansion with a Raffles name, not the other way round.
Warsaw (1857, Raffles since 2018). Hotel Europejski on Krakowskie Przedmieście was the city’s finest hotel, before it became a Soviet barracks and later offices. Raffles reopened it on 1 June 2018 with 106 rooms as the chain’s first opening under Accor. Warsaw is closer than most Danish travellers think.
London (1906, hotel since 2023). The Old War Office on Whitehall, where Churchill worked, opened as Raffles London at The OWO on 29 September 2023 with 120 rooms and Mauro Colagreco in the kitchen. The building had been closed to the public for 117 years. It is the newest of the old ones, and London is the chain’s destination that is easiest to reach from the Nordics.
Asia, where the chain is at home
Beyond the old houses, Asia is where Raffles has built the most.
In Singapore itself, Raffles Sentosa opened on 1 March 2025 with 62 villas, each with its own pool, on a hill on Sentosa, a short distance from the centre. It is the city’s first purely villa resort and the natural second night if Beach Road is the first.
Jakarta (2015) and Bali (opened 2020, the hotel’s own page says 2021) are the two Indonesian ones. Bali sits on Jimbaran Bay, far from Seminyak and deliberately so. Makati in Manila (2012) is the 32 suites above the Fairmont. Hainan (2013) is a Chinese beach holiday at Clear Water Bay, Shenzhen (2019) has 168 rooms with a lobby on the 34th floor, and Raffles at Galaxy Macau (2023) is around 450 suites inside a casino resort. We have written about Macau before, and it is not a place you go for quiet.
In India, Udaipur arrived in 2021 on an island in Udai Sagar lake, and Jaipur in July 2024. Both are new builds in palace style, and both lie in the part of India that Danish travellers actually go to.
How to get there
Most Danish travellers fly to Raffles destinations with connections. There are no direct flights from Denmark to Singapore, Dubai or the Maldives, so the journey typically goes via a large hub in Europe or the Middle East. The whole trip to Singapore often takes around a day once waiting times and the time difference are included.
Dubai is the easiest to reach. There are many daily departures from Copenhagen, and the flight time is about six and a half hours. Many choose a direct flight, and it is the simplest option if Dubai is your only stop. Raffles The Palm and Raffles Dubai are both in the city, and transport from there is short.
The Maldives usually require a connection. You fly to Malé, and the flight time from Europe is often between eight and ten hours, depending on the connection. From Malé, Raffles Maldives Meradhoo is not close by, and the final leg is by boat or seaplane, so plan the day carefully.
India has several routes. From Copenhagen you can often fly with a connection in Europe or the Middle East to Delhi or Mumbai. Udaipur and Jaipur are both reached with a domestic connection. Together with the time difference and the many stopovers, the journey from Denmark to India can take a full day or more.
The Indian Ocean
Raffles Seychelles opened in February 2011 on Praslin, the second of the Seychelles’ main islands and the one with Anse Lazio. Raffles Maldives Meradhoo opened in two stages in 2019, the beach villas in May and the overwater villas in September. The Maldives has half a hundred resorts in the same price bracket. What sets this one apart is the butler and the size, not the lagoon.
The Middle East, where the growth is
Six hotels, one of which most readers cannot visit.
Raffles Dubai (2007) is the pyramid at Wafi, 19 storeys and the most photographed building in the chain after Singapore. Raffles The Palm (1 October 2021) is 389 rooms on the western crescent of Palm Jumeirah and the chain’s first resort in the region. Both are in Dubai, and they are two different trips.
Raffles Doha (2022) is one half of Katara Towers, the two curved towers on the waterfront, designed after the swords in Qatar’s coat of arms. 132 suites. Raffles Al Areen Palace in Bahrain opened in December 2023 with 78 villas, each with a pool, by the desert near Sakhir.
Raffles Makkah Palace (2010) is in Abraj Al Bait with a view over Masjid al-Haram. Mecca is closed to non-Muslims. It is the one Raffles this article cannot recommend to most of its readers, and we say so because nobody else does.
Raffles Jeddah opened in 2026 on the corniche with 182 rooms, each with a terrace facing the Red Sea. It is the chain’s first city hotel in Saudi Arabia, which is open to tourists.
The Americas, one address
Raffles Boston opened on 15 September 2023 in Back Bay, with 147 rooms, a lobby on the 17th floor and a staircase that winds three storeys up through the atrium. It is the only Raffles in North or South America, and Boston is one of the few American cities where a hotel of this kind does not get lost.
On the way to Raffles Hotels’ newest shoots
Raffles The Red Sea on Shura Island is announced for the third quarter of 2026 with 168 keys. Raffles Diriyah outside Riyadh is set for 2027. Raffles Courchevel in Courchevel 1850 is promised for the 2028 winter season with 50 rooms and will be the chain’s first alpine house. Riyadh, Tokyo, Shanghai and Los Cabos are announced without dates.
An announced opening is a promise, not a hotel. We will write about them when they have guests.
Where the Raffles Hotels brand is worth the money
The honest answer is that Raffles is two chains with one name.
One is the six old hotels: Singapore, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Paris, Warsaw and London. There you buy a stay in a hotel that has its own history, and the “Raffles” brand stands for real quality, in a chain that has shown in Singapore that it can restore without destroying. These are the places where the name on the door and the hotel behind it tell the same story.
The other is the new build: good hotels, often very good, with butlers, suites and views. But there you buy a five-star hotel with a borrowed name, and you should judge it as you would any other five-star hotel in the same city. Palm Jumeirah has several.
If you only do one Raffles Hotel, the answer is still Beach Road; Raffles. Get there with Singapore Airlines, and read how to travel from Scandinavia to Singapore before you book. The rest of the Raffles chain is visited once you have been to Singapore.
You will find more fine hotels worth travelling for under luxury travel.
Getting around on the ground
In Singapore the easiest option is a taxi or the MRT, the city’s metro system. The airport is some distance from the centre, and taxi journeys are fairly short, but traffic can be heavy at rush hour. Beach Road is easy to reach, and from there Marina Bay and Chinatown are within walking distance or a short ride away.
Dubai is a car city. The metro connects the main areas, but it is not always convenient if you need Palm Jumeirah or the nearby beaches. Taxis are the most widespread option, and they are often the best choice from the airport to the hotel. If you are travelling around the city, a taxi or a rented car becomes easier than public transport.
To the Maldives, transport is almost always by boat, from Malé or the airport to the resort. It is part of the experience, but it also means you must plan your times around the boat departures. In India, taxis and private drivers are the most used options, and in Udaipur and Jaipur the distances to the palaces are often short enough to walk or take a tuk-tuk.
Prices and budget
Raffles is not a cheap brand, and that is clear when you look at the price level. A night in a suite at Raffles in Singapore or Dubai sits at the high end of five-star hotels. The Maldives and the large villa resorts are similarly high, and prices rise in high season.
What is typically included is the room or suite itself, butler service and access to the hotel’s facilities such as the pool and spa. Breakfast is often part of the better packages, but you should check that before booking. Airport transfers are not always included, and the same goes for most restaurants and bar visits.
To judge the value, compare with other five-star hotels in the same city, not with budget overnight stays. The most important things are what you get from the butler, the size of the suite and the location. Prices change continuously, so always check the current price and what is included directly on the hotel’s website.